From the Pastor’s Heart

Several years ago, a few days before Easter, I found myself in a classroom as a substitute teacher. A little girl in homeroom overheard some of the other children talking about Easter. She came to my desk and asked, “What is Easter?” I did not readily answer. Truthfully, I thought she was just kidding so that my attention would be diverted and we would not start the class work. But as I listened to her talk with her friends it became quite evident that she had no idea as to the meaning of Easter. Her friends were shocked, surprised and even appalled with their classmate. I heard one student exclaim, “What! You don’t know what Easter is?”

What does Easter mean to you? In the secular world, it means fluffy bunnies, brightly colored eggs, hidden baskets, and lots of lush chocolate candy. If you are a child there is nothing wrong with this Easter. Easter is a happy day, and God loves to hear the laughter of little children; but Easter is so much more.

A grandfather took his granddaughter to see the Passion Play. As the soldiers were mistreating Jesus the little girl stood up and shouted out, “I’m going to go up there and kick their butts!” She was very upset. Her grandfather calmed her by saying, “Just keep watching. It is going to be all right. This is not the end.”

At the end, when Jesus came out of the tomb in a radiant robe, the actor playing Jesus was standing on the stage within eyesight of the little girl. He turned, looked at her and smiled. She was radiant herself when she gave him the thumbs up sign and he returned it.

Easter is God’s thumbs up sign to God’s world. Easter is not about what happened. It is about what is happening. Resurrection is about the power of God in our lives now.

There is a wonderful new hymn in our hymnal. It has become something of a tradition to sing this hymn, number 707, The Hymn of Promise, at Easter and often at memorial and funeral services. This hymn was written in 1986 by Natalie Sleeth; a respected and prolific writer of Christian music.

James W. Moore explains… She wrote this hymn for her husband, the late Dr. Ronnie Sleeth, who was an outstanding professor of preaching at Vanderbilt Divinity School and later at Iliff School of Theology. In 1986 Ronnie Sleeth was told by his doctors that he had a terminal illness.

From the date of the diagnosis of his illness to his death was just twenty-one days…and Natalie wrote this hymn of promise for him before he died. The last stanza states:
“In our end is our beginning;
In our time infinity;
In our doubt, there is believing;
In our life, eternity;
In our death, a resurrection;
At the last, a victory;
Unrevealed until its season;
Something God alone can see.”

Natalie Sleeth had her own set of health problems. For several years, she had battled a debilitating disease that ultimately took her life. Before she died, she wrote a beautiful statement for her grandchildren. She told them of how she began to realize that she was growing older and that her body was beginning to wear out. She told her grandchildren that she talked to God about this and asked God to help her. God heard her and said: “My child, when I made the world and filled it with people, I had a plan. I wanted my people to have life as long as they could, but not forever on this earth because then my world would be too full with no room for anybody. I planned it so that when it was time to leave the earth my people would come and live with me in Heaven where there is no pain, no sadness, nor sickness, nor anything bad.”

Natalie told her grandchildren that at this point, she said softly to God, “Is my time to come and live with you getting closer?” And God said, “Yes, but don’t be afraid because I will always be with you…and I will always take care of you.” Natalie then said to God, “But, I will miss my family and friends…and they will miss me!” And God said, “Yes, but I will comfort them and turn their tears into joy…and they will remember you with happiness and be glad for your life among them.”

So, slowly Natalie began to journey to Heaven, and day by day she drew nearer and nearer to God. In the distance she said she could see light and hear beautiful music and feel happiness she had never known before…and as she moved toward the gates of Heaven and into the house of God she said her last words: “It’s good!…It’s good!…It’s good!

Easter is God’s thumbs up to each of us. And indeed it is good!

With Easter Hope and Blessings,

Pastor Russel